Double Edged
by Univen
Summary: For as long as I can remember, I was stuck in one place, forced into a vicious, repetitive cycle. Even when I broke that one, I was flung into another, forced into the wilderness to run and never look back. I only really knew two things out there. One, I wanted to survive, and two, I never wanted to go back there again. Where I was going wouldn't matter to me for quite some time.
1. 1 - Another Day in Paradise

I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with any of the companies that had to do with the creation of Pokémon, e.g. Nintendo or Game Freak. I simply wanted to use the creatures and logic that they created to come up with a story of my own.

With that said, not all of the logic in this will be 100% accurate. For instance, I may say that some pokémon can use a move that it normally can't. Even then, I will try to make sure that these exceptions make some sense so that you hopefully won't be scratching your head thinking, "How does that work?"

Alright, formalities aside, I hope you enjoy the first chapter. Let the journey begin!

* * *

 _The land outside the regions, known as Ligni, is an unruly place. It is not what some may expect of forbidden lands, which may be vast deserts devoid of anything living. Quite the contrary, this land is filled to the brim with life. However, the beings that reside there are powerful, and beyond control. Granted there are some like this that lie within the regions between cities and towns, but those are few and far between, where outside they are far more abundant._

 _Over time, a small group formed, comprised of those that headed for Ligni to test this, "theory." An even smaller group is comprised of those who actually returned. These survivors tried to warn society about the dangers of the outside lands, and often times they were heard. Yet, the curiosity of the mind often overwhelms the fear of the unknown, leading some to still attempt to brave these wilds._

 _Where there are those that leave, however, there are also those that come in. It is not unheard of that some of these beings from the outside would end up seeing some of the outskirts of civilization. If they did, they would most likely simply observe, before wandering back to the lands from which they came. That, or they would wreak havoc in the area, before being taken down or driven away by the league that holds responsibility over the land it ended up in. Most of the time, these encounters would end in the latter, but the leagues would not hesitate to resort to the former if necessary._

 _Yet sometimes, those from Ligni will stay. It's a minority of a minority, but some from the outside have seen our civilization and decided to stay with us. This leads to some speculation about the minds of us compared to those considered feral. Some are of the opinion that beings are born either with or without a conscience, and that most of those that are born without one live outside of society. Others believe that the mind of every single being is civilized in its own way. They think it is simply a matter of what they choose, where some decide on staying with the order of the wild, while the rest join our society, where we worked to make our own order._

* * *

Chapter 1: Another Day in Paradise

Darkness. All I could see was black, like I was in an empty void. I couldn't feel anything either. All I could do was listen, and hear... whispers. They had no origin, as if they were coming from everywhere around me. Perhaps they were trying to say something, but it sounded as if even the murmur I heard would barely come out. Then, a jolt jarred me, and the whispers began to fade, leaving me feeling a growing aching pain.

The smell hit me first, and that's all I needed to tell me to keep my eyes shut. It was a small detail, but it told me I was awake, and if I wanted to get an idea of my surroundings before starting the inevitable, I would have to try to keep _them_ unaware of my consciousness. At that, scent never really gave much away, and this time was the same as any other. The air was still, and seemed to be a mix between must and sterile, as if the room hadn't been used in a while, but had just been cleaned hastily before having me thrown in.

Knowing that was all I could get out of smell, I opened my eyes slowly, and very slightly, still trying to keep them oblivious. It was a limited view, but I could gather what the rest of the view looked like before even seeing it. The walls and floor were bland, with white stone and tile respectively, which stretched out for a few yards ahead of me, but at least thirty yards off to my right. The room was somewhat lit by a little light coming from holes in the walls near the ceiling, which made just enough light to allow the room to be considered dim. Wires were strung on the wall like they were just thrown there, all leading to the back wall, where they joined together at a stationary silver orb in the center. With this, I could only guess that out of my view was some wall with tinted glass, and a metal slab off to the side.

Another jolt burned through me, and I groaned, then started to stir. At the same moment, a familiar emotionless voice filled with static came from the other end of the room, where I guessed I had missed a speaker.

"Up now!"

I started to get up slowly. I was nearly on my feet when another shock tensed my muscles and made me fall again.

"Faster!"

I started to get up again, this time obviously quicker, since I didn't want my insides to be barbecued any more than they already had. While doing this, annoyance and anger flared up inside me. I was mostly annoyed with myself, considering this same thing had happened multiple times before. It was just that I wasn't thinking. That being said, I still definitely held some anger towards my… _"caretakers,"_ for it. I was going to get up anyway, so weren't they just making it take longer?

I finally stood up fully after a few seconds, though I was unsteady. They didn't notice, or, most likely, care at all, as they immediately started speaking when they saw I was simply standing.

"Begin test DPM0096. U-3, fire dark pulse towards target on back wall. Hold for thirty seconds."

" _Glad I took a quick look around then,"_ I thought to myself. I shook my head and steadied myself, catching a quick glance behind me. I wasn't surprised to see a tinted window, and a slab of metal implanted in the wall off to the left, which I always assumed to be a door, despite never seeing it open.

Looking back, I took my stance to limit being knocked back, then started to build the energy in my maw. Once I felt I had enough, I opened it and let loose a slow and steady ray of concentrated dark rings towards the target. I was able to keep it for a few seconds, before, yet again, I was shocked and sent down to the floor for the third time. Still not a record, though. Not by a long shot.

"Make it stronger!"

At this point I was on the verge of screaming from rage, that's how much these things infuriated me. Remembering what they would do to me if I did that, however, made me keep my mouth shut. Thinking about that, however, just made me angrier, and I kept that emotion as I began to build up the energy for the pulse again. Once again, I released it, this time faster and more concentrated, and they must have been satisfied, as I wasn't sent to the floor again five seconds in.

Ten seconds in, however, I thought, _"Wait… why only thirty seconds…?"_

Fifteen more seconds passed, and they started to count down from five, to make sure I knew to stop.

"Five… four… three… two… one. Cease pulse."

" _I wonder what would happen if I..._ "

...

"Comply!"

I could barely make out what they said, but I could only guess what they meant when I saw some of my hair stand on end, and heard a faint crack. I heard them try to say something else through the speaker, but that, along with the low-pitched screeching of the dark pulse, sounded like they were far away. Through all this, I could just make out a very slight humming coming from the back of the room, and it was growing higher pitched and louder.

That was before a bright flash lit the room up, and I was sent flying back into the wall behind me as a loud booming filled the room, even with my impaired hearing. My vision was completely white as I landed on the floor, and at that point everything seemed to be going in slow motion.

I blinked a few times to try to get my vision to recover, before noticing it wasn't even my vision at all. Looking to the side, the room was still there, albeit blurry, but in the back of the room where the orb once stood, there was now a bright light pouring into the room, nearly blinding me.

There was a faint ringing, which I figured was my hearing, as I slowly got up from my side with little difficulty, and started to move towards the back of the room, curious as to what happened exactly. I constantly blinked and squinted while I walked back, trying to straighten out my blurry vision.

As I got closer to the back wall, my eyes started to adjust to the light, though it was definitely taking a while. Once I got to where I guessed the orb used to be, I found a small pile of rubble leading into where the wall should've been, but what was then a gaping hole. Through it, I could only make out bright colors, including orange and blue being blended together.

When I walked through the hole, I was still unable to clearly see anything, so I started to walk slowly away from the room behind me, allowing my eyesight to adjust. Once it did, I made out a gravel path, which I was now standing on, stretching out to my right and left, then disappearing behind a corner. It was a few feet wide, and behind that stood multiple yards of orange earth. This lead up to a stone wall, which was about ten feet tall and topped with wire, which also stretched out of view on either side. Looking behind me, what I had thought to be a wall showed me that the room I was in, and maybe even the entire complex, was hidden under a similarly-colored orange-red cliff.

Then, sirens started to sound, though to me it sounded more like a muffled high-pitched beeping. Still, it told me all I needed to know, as I turned and quickly started off for the wall.

As I drew nearer, I tried looking around at any point that I could possibly use to get over it. Stopping a few yards before it, I looked to my left and right. Finding nothing, I grew frustrated and kicked a pebble, which then bounced off the wall and landed on the ground behind me. It took me a minute to get my thoughts sorted out, but seeing that helped me start to formulate a plan in my head.

Still scanning my surroundings, I tried to be absolutely sure that there was nothing that could help, until I noticed figures moving towards me out of the corner of my eye. Looking towards them, I was just able to make out pink, green, and yellow figures before turning away. They were no doubt trying to hypnotize me, but I wasn't losing this chance. Not to something as stupid as looking at a psychic that probably knew hypnosis, at least. I knew that I didn't have much time before they closed the gap between me and them, so I began to build up energy yet again.

Even then, I was trying to keep an eye on what they were trying to do, since I figured they knew I wouldn't look at them purposefully. I was glad I did, because it let me see a storm of slightly transparent blue bubbles, no doubt yawn, trying to get me to sleep. I needed to build up as much energy as I could, so I just waited. Moving would interrupt some of my concentration, so I couldn't really afford trying to run.

It took a few seconds, but once they got near enough to me, I finally started to move to dodge the ones I could see out of the corner of my eye. After a few seconds of jumping and weaving, however, one just caught me in the corner of my face, at which point I just thought, _"Screw it."_ I would have a minute or so of consciousness, and I was going to use it.

I jumped as high into the air as possible going towards the wall, which still stood a few feet away, then flipped, looking behind myself and towards the ground. Using the energy I had been building up, I launched an overpowered dark pulse towards the ground, which pulled up a cloud of dust as it hit. At the same time, it launched me just high enough to clear the wall, though I felt something catch my right leg, which I simply assumed to be the wire.

I looked over where I was headed now, and if I hadn't already been in the air, I probably would have jumped. Below me was a deep valley, with what I assumed to be a river flowing through the center, and there was yet another cliff on the other side. Panicking, I quickly built up a small burst of energy and released one more pulse against the wall I just cleared, trying to at least propel myself to land in the stream below. I held it for a second or two, then let it go and dove straight down.

Slowly, the world around me began to get clearer. I could hear the wind rushing past my ears as I plummeted into the valley. Aches and pains followed, and I winced as I started to feel all the damage I had done to myself, which I had neglected to notice in the rush. I let that, along with the oncoming effects of yawn, carry me to unconsciousness as I was submerged in the flowing water.

* * *

That was the day I finally escaped the hell I had lived in for so long.

Calling that place anything but hell would be complimenting it. Calling it a laboratory wouldn't make sense since most don't torture test subjects into submission. For the same reason, calling it a prison wouldn't make any sense either. It all seemed to be based on the concept of pushing the subject to the edge physically, and to an extent, emotionally. Only somewhat though, since it wasn't like they were trying too hard to get me to like them. The only thing that place and a prison _might_ hold in common is the meals, but that's just about all I can think of.

I say for so long, but I don't really know how long I was there for. It could have been a year, or ten. It was definitely at least a year though, but I couldn't say anything more than that considering days are kind of hard to count when you're always in an enclosed room. As for what I was before then, again I don't know. I have little fragments, or what I call fabrications. Things that seem like I was there, but were so different from what I lived with for so long that they didn't seem real. One of them involved a hilly area, covered in grass, with trees in the background, and a brilliant blue sky. I could see figures moving about, and hear laughter, but all of the figures themselves were blurry. That, and another one, where I was looking out over a heavy blanket of trees, watching the sky slowly turn from a deep red to black as the sun set over the horizon, leaning on a figure whose orange hair I could see flowing in a light breeze. Again, though, I can't make out who they are, no matter how hard I try to see them out of the corner of my eye. Getting out there did end up showing me that they were at least somewhat plausible since there were actually trees and grass. Not that I didn't believe they existed, but I was more unsure than anything, as I had never actually seen them before.

When I woke up that next night, it was probably the worst start I've ever had after waking up. It wasn't bad because of the darkness though. No, that was fine. What was terrible was the excruciating pain I was in when I woke up, with all the scratches and bruises I accumulated from flowing down rapids, along with what I made out to be the gash in my back left leg I must have gotten from the wire fence. I was barely able to crawl back to the river, but I did for a few reasons. First off, it ended up cooling me off, easing some of the many aches and pains I had. Along with that, I figured it would end up being a lot easier swimming downstream than walking in that state, and to an extent, it was, since I only really had to keep my head above the water. Plus, I am not a particular fan of the feeling of dried blood on my fur.

I floated down the river for a while, before being beached again at daybreak, where I ended up resting. That next day was a lot easier to deal with, though it was still no easy task. Topping off my injuries and disorientation, a few trees were felled when two pokémon ended up coming for me, trying to take me back to the facility no doubt. Looking back at that, though, it wasn't very much compared to some of the other things I would end up doing to try to get them off my tail. Yet they still kept coming, and sometimes they would come with stronger members, or just more of them to try to overwhelm me. Unlucky for them, I learned very quickly what I needed to do to keep myself out there.

One of these things was that wild pokémon don't have a little silver band or mark on any of their legs or arms. That just told me what I could avoid easily, and when I wouldn't have to worry about something turning around and then sprinting to catch me.

Another one came about a month or two in, and it did a great deal to help me figure out where I would need to go so I wouldn't run into them. It had to do with the energy in my system, where I could feel it flow through. It was normally equal flow, but every now and then some would stop on one side. In some situations, I would be ambushed from that direction, which I started to notice. A bit of trial and error later, and I knew I could use it to get away from them.

Food was probably my most hard learned lesson. I ended poisoning myself at least a dozen times within those first two weeks. Of the things I learned, most berries are fine to eat, but grass and leaves aren't. Even long after leaving that area, though, I still found new things that would leave me sick to the stomach the next day.

Now, I barely ended up hunting. I thought about it for a while, and I just decided it wasn't the most efficient way to get food. First of all, it just wastes time trying to take down the prey to eat it, and it would leave a mess that would tell my pursuers that I was there, making it easier to follow me. Besides, picking berries off of a plant that can't move is much easier. Well, _most_ plants don't move, but some grass types are really good at camouflage. With that said, I did end up having to hunt a few times in areas that were less abundant in fruit-bearing plants.

Even with all this, it was still absolutely worth finally getting to leave the place. Sure, it ended leaving me a few scars and a lot of getting extremely sick, but that just taught me what to do and what not to do. Along with that, I also got to see a lot of great sights that I never would've thought possible previously. Different types of land, from the valley I jumped into to start it all, to lush meadows full of plant life. Sure, it would be brief, since I didn't have much time to stand around observing, but it was just one more thing that made me almost happy to be out there. Of course, this is opposed to doing a test, being put unconscious, then doing another test, being put unconscious, and so on. That, and being punished for having one little mistake, or even just not doing something the way they wanted it done. Basically, doing anything but being back there would've made me happy.

Time was something I learned as well. Days passing by with light and dark was a new concept to me, but I quickly grew accustomed to it, and started to count the weeks and months that went by. I wouldn't know exactly how much time had passed, but it would give me a vague idea at least.

* * *

I found myself in the void again, with the whispers surrounding me. As I was out there, running as far as I could to get away, they've gotten louder. They were still whispers, don't get me wrong, but I didn't have to try listening to know they were there. I have no idea what that means, and I still can't make out anything, if it's any words at all. Only did the fading of them tell me that I was slowly waking up, with a dull ache, and the feeling of flowing cool air.

Slowly sitting up, I opened my eyes to no change. I started to concentrate on my rings to give them a slightly silver glow, which allowed me to see the cave outside the indent in the wall I ended up resting in.

I got to my feet, and jumped out onto the main floor of the cave, feeling the cool, smooth stone against my paws as I stretched out. I found the darkness of the caves to be quite comforting, and the draw of energy was much fainter through the stone, which I assumed meant it would be harder to find me when I was in one. That's why I always tried to spend as much necessary time in them as possible.

Once I finished stretching, I started to walk up the slope of the cave. It gradually began to get lighter, and in compensation, I dimmed down my rings. Only when I turned around a corner and squinted to try to adjust to the light did I entirely kill them off. I didn't like the idea of being the equivalent of a lighthouse, basically screaming out, "Hey! Listen! I'm over here!" It was dawn, so it would get brighter, but it wasn't light yet, and I didn't like the idea of taking any chances.

Stepping out of the mouth of the cave, I took in my surroundings. A wall of trees blocked my sight all around, even above the hill just behind me, and a small stream lay off to the left. There were also some red berries on bushes a little off to the right. Areas like this, I had found out, were very convenient for what I needed, but were also far from common. If I found areas like this after most a days worth of running, then I would most likely spend time in them. If it meant I would lose too much time, however, I would only spend a short break there before continuing on.

I made my way over to the berry bush, and then bit one off. After devouring a few, I walked over to the stream and had a drink of water. After that, I looked at my reflection in the flowing water, above the occasional magikarp or feebas. I could see the grayish-silver rings on my head and ears, along with my seemingly glowing cyan eyes, contrasting the dark teal of my fur. I never realized how out of place I was back then, though I never did particularly care about appearance.

Turning around, I took a few steps away from the river and sat down. I began to concentrate on the energy flowing through my body. My other senses went dull as I did this, which was apparent mostly because the sound of the stream behind me lost its volume. A slight pull, like a magnet, stopped the energy in the front of the system, clumping it there. With that, my eyes shot open, and I quickly turned and took off over the river.

" _Just another day in paradise,"_ I thought to myself as I started maneuvering through the dense forest.

* * *

A/N

And that's it for chapter one of a project I hope you, as well as I, come to like. I appreciate the chance you gave me for this, and I hope I didn't disappoint. This is my first project I'm trying to commit to, so I have no idea how this is going to go, but I really hope I don't abandon/forget about this, because I've put quite a few hours into coming up with this story already.

Okay, so onto answering a few questions some of you may be having. This is _not_ any world that the anime or games has seen, period. I am attempting to make the world for this work entirely original, which means there will be what I consider to be original names, backstory, etc. The theme for names is a mix, though, because coming up with mineral names/atmosphere layers to name things after can be a bit of a pain. A, "lesson," taken from some mysterious page will be at the beginning of these first few chapters, and while I doubt it'll make it into the later ones, it may stick. This chapter's doesn't serve the most important purpose, but gives an introduction to the concept.

So, that's about all that should be within the questions category that I can think of. If you have anything else you want clarified, within reason of course, I will be glad to respond and answer. The rest from here is mostly going to be me talking about the process of getting this to what it is now.

Firstly, this is far from the first draft I've made, and is probably the third or fourth at this point. Technically, my first one was uploaded to WattPad when the idea was fresh in my head, but looking back at it a month later, I thought it was far from my best work. I went back to the drawing board, and was stuck there for the next summer, adding on a bit more at a time between my playing games, and feeling sorry over myself as I realized that I was doing literally nothing productive. Writing up a new draft, I liked it a lot more, and then wrote another one, edited it, and here we are. Edit: This is revision two at this point, where a few things got deleted, some things added, so it could be draft four, but I still count it as three.

Just because I wanted to doesn't mean that was the only reason. I did want to get this out, and that is my main reason for writing this now, but when I started, there were a lot of, I'll just say, unfortunate events going on in the lives of people around me, and I wanted to try to say that I helped some people, even if that would only be by some small bit of entertainment that put a smile on someone's face. Also, I was procrastinating way too much at that point, and I needed more of a reason than, "I wanna do it." I need to prove to myself that I can finish something that I start, especially something this long-term. Took me throwing my fears out the window to upload this, but hey, I got here right?

Schedule is an interesting topic, because when I first wrote all this up, I had as much time as I would ever want, considering it was summer. Now, though, I'm hitting school full force, and am going to need to balance this and schoolwork. Also, procrastination, as mentioned before… I'm not going to make any promises, especially since it took this long for me to get the first chapter out, but I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't take too long. Edit: Heh, second one took four extra months, and I even had the first draft finished by the time I uploaded this...

Anyways, I hope this was a good enough start! This is my first project I'm attempting to turn into something meaningful, so I may be a bit touchy on the subject, but I am open to any feedback or criticism that you may have. I'm still figuring out my, "style," of writing, so the way information is presented is almost certainly bound to change from here on out. Hope you enjoyed, and see you next chapter! Edit: two chapters from now… hopefully it doesn't take as long next time.

 _(Too many hopes? Yeah. Way too many. Also, way too long of a note… sorry?)_

~Univen


	2. 2 - Empathy

_There are many conflicts that will forever go untold on paper, simply because of their insignificance to the world, making little, if any real changes. The great catastrophes, however, are nearly the exact opposite, affecting not just every life on the surface, but the surface itself. The one with the greatest effects, which was also the first recorded event we discovered here, morphed the land into what we see today. All of the others past this haven't come anywhere close to causing such large changes to the land, but some arguably had much higher stakes, where the surface wasn't the only thing at risk of being changed or destroyed._

 _In every great conflict besides the first, there has always been some sort of savior, or hero, or legend. Whatever the people may call them, they have been either one person or a group that teamed up to fight whatever had to be fought to preserve the way of the land they held. Some were lost by the end of their mission, where others were able to live long after and see the world return to normal, slowly forgetting the great deed they had done for it._

 _Throughout all of these conflicts, key places have become great areas of interest for tourists. Whether that be where the heroes' journey started or where each conflict ended, there are lots of popular locations that many flock to. This includes towers, valleys, lakes, graveyards, and more, all of which have some sort of connection to the aforementioned conflicts. Some visitors may go to these places while on a journey of their own in hopes that they too can become a legend, while others do it to respect those who have fallen to keep our world the way it is._

* * *

Ch. 2: Empathy

As I began to run, the trees of the forest around me turned to a blur, where only what was straight ahead of me was clear. I never bothered to even try to look out of the corner of my eye, because if I ever did, I would most likely miss some crucial detail, which would cause me to slip up and lose valuable time.

Looking straight ahead still gave me a few things to observe, like how dark it was. This wasn't that surprising since there was basically a ceiling of leaves above my head, but it was still bright enough for me to be able to see the growing abundance of leaves and branches on the ground ahead of me. With that in mind, I took a quick leap into the trees and started jumping from branch to branch.

This is another skill I picked up in my time out here, and yet I caught on to the concept a lot easier than I initially thought. It was very useful, as I wouldn't be leaving any footprints on the ground, along with leaving a lot less broken branches. That was as long as my paws weren't dirty and I didn't break any branches accidentally. As an extra bonus, it eliminated much of the noise that would be made from crunching leaves and branches, which would attract less local attention as well.

I kept running as I would any other day, and eventually, the forest got lighter. Partially because the sun was getting higher in the sky, but the forest was also losing some of its density, so there were fewer leaves blocking the light from shining through. Alongside that, the gaps between the trees began to get larger, making it slightly harder to keep up my pace. Not that this was too big of a problem, considering I was used to that type of physical stress, but still, it wasn't a good idea to stay up there just to cover tracks. I still had most a days worth of running ahead of me, and I wouldn't want to run out of stamina that early.

As time went on and the sun rose higher in the sky, I started to slow down. By the time it was what I guessed to be midday, I was running on the forest floor again. I ended up running for about an hour more before finding a tall tree, at which point I jumped up to the highest stable branch I could to get a good survey of my surroundings.

There were still a few leaves in the way here and there, but I was able to see over the tops of trees with relative ease, besides a few other tall ones here and there that obscured my vision. From this view, it was clear to me that trees were becoming slightly more sparse, though I wasn't worried too much, as there were still plenty to jump to and from if I really wanted to. At least the space between the trees allowed me to see necessary resources through the small gaps, like a stream a little ways off to my left, which was running parallel to my view.

Knowing where that was, I made my way down to the forest floor and began walking in the direction of the stream. I figured I had been making pretty good time, and despite how long I could run, I would need periods of rest like any other living thing. I took that time to simply observe my surroundings, and let my mind drift away, though that wasn't always the best thing for me to do.

Whenever I let my mind wander, I would always try to shake off most of the thoughts that came up, but they never went that easily. I had always found myself asking the same questions: What was the point of running? It wasn't like I had any actual plan. I just kept going to keep that freedom to run, and there wasn't much else behind it. Sure, I had other hopes, like maybe finding someone besides the scientists, and what I considered ferals, but these were just things I wanted to see. There was no evidence or reason behind them, so there was no reason for me to believe they existed, yet I did anyways.

Despite my best efforts to divert my thoughts, these exact things came up again, just like every other time. I still wanted to go on, though, even after having all that go through my head, and it always confused me. It wasn't until I could hear the flowing stream ahead that I was able to snap out of it for the most part. Not long after, the trees around me opened up, showing me the moving water. After taking a drink, I felt a little better, but those doubts were still stuck in the back of my head, and I knew there was only one way to get rid of them, at least temporarily. Sitting down facing the stream, I concentrated again, and this time I felt energy being pulled to my left. I got up and started running alongside the river, then leapt up into the trees once more. Jumping between the trees was one of the only things that could clear my head since it required me to focus on where I was going, so I used it to distract myself whenever these things came up in my head.

While doing this, all I was ever able to pay attention to was the branches of the trees ahead of me, but even looking at those told me that the gaps between the trees were getting larger and larger. As I went on, it kept getting harder and harder for me to keep up my pace, and it was no longer than 15 minutes before I was forced to the ground again.

I leaned up against a tree, panting, and mentally scolded myself for neglecting to notice my growing tiredness. It was only after my breathing started to level out, and after a brief spell of dizziness, that I started to regain my senses.

It took a moment, but when I finally felt nearly recovered, I heard something. It sounded distant, but that was all it took to get me alert again, as I immediately jumped up, taking cover in the branches of the tree I had leaned on. I sat there for what seemed like ages, just waiting, until I heard something again. It was definitely a fair ways away, but even then it sounded like branches being snapped.

Curiosity overtook my mind by then, and I started to make my way to the top of the tree. I knew that most of the things out here wouldn't bother interacting with each other, and even if they did, it wouldn't be in such a disruptive way like this. I was also fairly positive this wasn't my pursuers, as I had only slightly felt the draw no less than half an hour earlier. It had to be something else, but I had no idea what it could be.

Once I reached the highest stable point on the tree, I took a quick scan around. It wasn't the tallest tree, so I couldn't see very far, but it gave me the view I needed. At first, there wasn't anything out of place, but just a few seconds after I heard another snap, mostly coming from my left. Turning to find where the sound came from, there was a small cloud of what I hoped was dust rising that confirmed it. In any other case, that would've been yelling, "Hey, you may not want to go there," but I was more interested than scared at that point, so I slowly and cautiously began to make my way down the tree and towards the noises.

Only as I started to walk did I realize how odd everything was around me. It was really quiet, besides the occasional booming noises from ahead, the soft crunching of leaves and branches under my paws, and a gust of wind that rustled the leaves above every now and then. The usual sounds of the forest, like birds and bugs chirping, just weren't there, as if the forest itself was holding its breath, waiting to see the outcome of the event I was walking into. Eerie is the best word I could use to describe it.

I assumed I was getting close after a few minutes of walking, so I leapt to the trees. I took my time to make sure that I could still make the jumps since without momentum it would be more difficult to make longer jumps. While doing this, I was also trying to stay as quiet as possible.

A booming crash from ahead of me confirmed my suspicions, so I kept moving, getting more cautious with my jumps as I made my way closer to the commotion. That was until I saw a light between the branches and leaves of the trees not too far ahead of me. Upon getting closer, I was able to see that it was a clearing in the trees, mostly because of how much brighter the area was, but I could also see quite some distance between one of the last trees ahead of me and the other ones in the distance. I jumped across a few more branches before edging my way as far as I could to the edge of one, trying to see as much of the scene as possible while also staying hidden.

It was a clearing in the forest, but looking at it more closely I thought it was more like a scar. It was narrow, ending off in points about 50 yards to the right or left. There were four or five felled trees lying across the gap, with a jagged base, like they had just been ripped from the trunk. Grass showed through where it wasn't blanketed with logs, branches, or leaves, though only a few patches were visible, scattered about the area.

In the middle of the clearing, two figures were just standing there, the larger of the two on the left, which looked about twice as tall as the other, if not taller. It had dark brown fur, besides the outline of a circle on its chest and most of its snout, which was more of a pale yellow. The feet and hands both had pure white claws and it had small rounded ears on its head, along with a ball of dark brown fur for a tail. It had a few scratches here and there, but what really stood out was the face it had, with its lip curled into a snarl showing its pointed teeth, and its black eyes looking down on its prey. This sight would've made any sane person shiver, and yet I didn't, mostly because I was lost in thought, trying to figure out what absolute idiot would think pissing off an ursaring like this would be a good idea. Once I looked at the other figure, I realized calling it an idiot wasn't far off.

The other figure was a combusken, with the feathers on its head colored orange, along with its eyes, beak, and legs. Its arms, head, and most of its chest were a pale yellow in contrast. It had white claws at the end of either of its arms, and grey talons pointed with white claws for feet. It was breathing heavily and had a lot more bruises and scratches on it than its opponent. Some of them looked exceptionally deep, with a bit of blood seeping through, showing on its feathers. Given the situation, I could give it a decent type matchup since it was fighting versus normal, but the opponent was huge. That is without stating the fact that it's evolved form would've had a much better chance of making it out alive. The stupidity of the situation was not so much what caught me off guard, however. What did was the satchel that was slung over its shoulder, coupled with the grey band on its arm.

Seeing these things set off multiple alarms in my head, prompting me to get out of there as fast as I possibly could, since I only knew of one place for these to come from. Still, I knew that they were quite far away, and I was also fairly sure that the ones chasing me wouldn't challenge a feral, simply because it would give up their position. That, and it was also missing a certain mark. Granted, my position didn't give me the best viewing angle, so it could've been in one of my many blindspots. My problem with all of this was; if the pokémon wasn't one of them, then where did it get those items?

I didn't think too much on that question because another idea popped into my head. If it wasn't one of them, then they wouldn't know what all the commotion is, so it may work as a distraction. If they went out of their way to get over here with caution like me, I would be long gone by the time they got here.

Under any other set of circumstances, once that thought popped up I would've left without a second thought, but I didn't. Maybe it was the details of the situation that made me curious, or perhaps something tucked back in my subconscious that told me to stay there. Either way, I didn't move a muscle.

A few seconds after I had analyzed the situation, the ursaring shifted its stance, then charged towards the combusken, going in for a take down with a loud roar. The combusken was able to see this clearly, and just before it was about to get hit, it tried to dodge to it's right, but the ursaring stuck out its arm as the combusken moved, and slammed it into the ground as it barreled past.

" _Must've done that before."_ Given how fast the ursaring responded, I wouldn't have been surprised.

The ursaring ran into one of the felled logs before it could stop, and was able to use that to brake itself so that only its head went over.I could hear the combusken gasping for air. It tried to get off the ground, but was barely able to get to its knees before it slouched over, and started mumbling to itself. At this point, the ursaring had mostly gotten up, just a few feet away. Once it was fully standing, it turned and slowly walked towards the combusken. Once it was close enough, it raised its arm, ready to finish the fight.

I knew what the outcome of this was going to be at that point, and was about to turn away and take off. Just as I was starting to, though, a small glistening caught my eye. Turning to see what it was, tears were hitting the ground.

After seeing that, I have no idea what exactly happened. The next thing I knew, I was standing where the ursaring formerly was, and it was sent multiple yards back, tumbling onto its side. I barely remember doing anything, though. I only really remember hearing a muffled, high pitched noise, with no idea where it came from. I didn't think much of it at the time, needless to say.

For a second or two, I just stood there where the ursaring used to be in a confused daze. I was thinking to myself, " _Why would I do that? I could've just gotten away, and it would've been simple._ _Y_ _et here I am, standing in the middle of a situation I didn't have to be a part of._ _"_

It took a few seconds, but I shook my head to clear it. I didn't have a lot of time, so I was going to need to think of an idea of how to get out of this. I started looking around, trying to figure out where I was again. I was more off to the right side of the clearing, and I figured running to the end of it would be better to gain some distance between me and the ursaring faster, rather than trying to lose it behind cover in what was probably its territory. Considering I had just angered it, I knew I didn't have much time left. If given the chance, this thing would definitely do its best to make my life a living hell.

Then my eyes crossed over the combusken, just a few feet away from me, who had started to get up onto its knee. It was looking at me, and I could clearly see fear showing through its orange eyes. Whether that was from the ursaring or me, I couldn't tell, but it was the one thing that clicked something inside me. For the first time, I felt empathy, because like me, it was scared of what may happen to itself if it messed up at all.

" _Fine."_

I had already wasted enough time thinking, and because I just did something to save this pokémon. no matter how stupid I may have thought they were, I wasn't just about to quit halfway through. I was in the situation now, no matter how much I didn't want to be. With that, I ran over to the combusken.

At first, when it saw me moving towards it, it flinched and closed his eyes. Once I was next to it, which really only took a few paces, I sat there impatiently for a few seconds. Given we didn't have that much time, I slightly nudged its shoulder, then looked back towards the ursaring, trying to gauge how much time we had left.

The beast was slowly starting to get up again, and this time it had its eyes fixed on me. There was a low growl coming from it, though it was gradually gaining in volume, and its teeth were bared. It was angry, and I could only guess that I was at the top of its list.

Looking back, I saw the combusken at its feet, looking at me with what I made out to be confusion. Before anything else happened, the growl turned into a roar, and I knew we had to move, so I ran straight past the combusken. Looking behind me, I was able to see the combusken looking back at the ursaring like I had. Then, even quicker than I began, it scrambled to its feet and started to run towards me. It really surprised me, because even though it had so many injuries, it was gaining distance fairly quickly. _"Adrenaline, maybe."_

By the time we were both neck-and-neck, we were a few yards from the treeline. It only took jumping over a few more felled logs to get beyond the cover of the trees, and just after there was a bright flash of orange light, followed by a big booming noise coming from behind us. I was thrown forward off of my feet from the shockwave, and I saw the combusken land flat on its stomach off to my left as I landed on my right side. As we both scrambled back up to keep running, we heard another roar from the massive predator behind us. By then, I wasn't really worried that much. Don't get me wrong, I was absolutely terrified of it, but they aren't exactly known to be the fastest species. We had just put quite some distance between us and it in quite a short time, plus there were the obstacles that it would have to get over as well.

The roars grew more and more distant as we quickly made our way through the trees of the forest. We came across a river after running for what I thought was about an hour, but was probably a few at that point, considering the sky was turning orange. I immediately started swimming across, knowing it would help mask my scent, which was good for two reasons at that point. Being blown off of my feet onto the ground also left me with a few scratches I would want to wash anyways. Once I reached the other side and looked back, however, I saw the combusken hesitating. I had a major mental facepalm at that moment since I didn't consider it was primarily a fire-type.

Then, it actually surprised me again, as it took the satchel from its shoulder and threw it across, then started to wade across the river, though I honestly could've mistaken it for flailing. As soon as it was across, it shook itself and even breathed a few flames in an attempt to dry itself. Then, it slung its satchel back over its shoulder, and we were off once more.

We ran for the rest of the day and partly into the night, and by the time we stopped, the moonlight was the only reason we could see the outlines of the trees.

We didn't stop anywhere special, it was just in the middle of the forest, just hidden by the many trees that surrounded us. As soon as we stopped, the combusken immediately set itself down next to a tree, and with one arm began looking through its satchel, while the other covered some of its wounds. I figured it was just going to be trying to patch itself up, so I decided to get out of its way, and jumped up onto a branch to lie down for the night. I lay down, thinking only of rest at that point, and closed my eyes.

"Thank you."

I was about to fall asleep when I heard that, very faintly in a deep tone. I opened my eyes and looked down to see the outline of the pokémon below, who was still tending to its wounds. I thought I had heard it speak, but in my exhaustion from all the running done in those short few hours, I just set it aside as my imagination. Setting my head down and closing my eyes, I drifted off. As I did, I heard soft humming coming from below.

Darkness and whispers surrounded me once more. This had gotten more and more common with my time out here, and yet there was never anything else. No dreams, no nightmares, just the wordless void, and maybe some old memories. It wasn't like this every night; sometimes I would be able to go through one without seeing or hearing anything, but at that point that rarely ever happened. It was weird to me that I was always semi-lucid here, though, which to me meant that I could see and knew what was going on, but I couldn't affect the things I saw around me.

I sat there for a few moments, doing the only thing I could, which was roaming my mind. That was until I heard something. It was high pitched, and sounded as it was muffled, like what I thought I had heard earlier in the day. As soon as I heard that, what was usually plain emptiness began to brighten, changing color from the typical empty blackness, morphing into a world around me.

 _The scene was fuzzy, but I could clearly make out a grey sky, with darker clouds moving in from the direction I faced. The branches of evergreen and deciduous trees swayed in the strong wind, as did the tall grass around me, as I came upon a light blue and white lump on the ground, covered in dirt and red streaks. Looking up from it, I saw a green tetrapod with a leaf growing off of its head: a chikorita. It was looking down for a few moments, then it looked straight at me, and it started to move its mouth as if it were trying to say something, though I couldn't hear the tone of the voice. Then, it turned and ran off into the tall grass, before the scene started to get fuzzy again._

 _My vision cleared after just a few seconds, but by then the scene was different. In the place of the tall grass surrounding me was the trunks of trees, obscuring my vision past a few yards. The world was moving up and down as the trees rushed past me, the chikorita from before not far ahead. Everything was darker now, and I was able to see some rain droplets making it through the canopy above our heads before everything faded again._

 _The next time it came back into focus, I was still running, before entering an opening where there were multiple small structures, held up by sticks from what I could see, with cloths draped over them as well as leaves. It was pouring rain at this point, and I swore I could've heard a faint thunderclap. The chikorita was still ahead of me, but it slowed down to a stop as it got closer to a tall, dark-blue colored figure, as did I. As the chikorita moved its mouth again, the figure sat there before nodding, getting up, and moving swiftly in the direction from which we came._

 _For the next few fades, I sat looking at the ground, seeing a leg tracing things in the mud, occasionally looking up to see the chikorita pacing not far from where I was. It was exceptionally dark at this point, and the only thing protecting me from the rain was the open tent I was under. As my vision went once more, everything around me seemed to darken as well._

 _The last things I saw was being inside of one of the smaller tents I had seen before, looking at the same lump, which I was just able to make out as a froakie, looking at the chikorita. It was covered with white splotches, presumably bandages, considering red was seeping through some, but the dirt from before was all gone. It looked sad, but then in the next moment it shot a glare at the chikorita, then straight at me, and the next thing I knew it was turned away, lying still. Then, everything went entirely black, and nothing came back, leaving me in silence._

* * *

 **A/N**

So… this took a little while for me to get figured out. Uh… Sorry?

' _4 months is just a little while?'_

Shut up! I had a lot of crap going on with school and such. Lots and lots of projects, okay? That and I had this community I'm a part of that needed help with a few things...

Excuses aside, honestly this took a lot longer than I would've hoped. I did NOT want it to take 4 months at all, and I expected to have it out by thanksgiving honestly. But then, that deadline turned into Christmas, then before new years, and, well, here I am. I honestly have a real issue with following my own schedule when I don't need to follow it strictly, which I should really work on fixing. Honestly though, mad respect to anybody who is able to do weekly updates, because that's something I can only dream of doing right now.

Anyways, starting off the actual plot, and not just having some prologue weirdness. By now I should have updated the first chapter to fix a few of the issues pointed out in it before, so yay for that! Feel free to tell me what you like, what you don't like, what needs fixed, etc. I'm open to any form of constructive criticisms. I may be touchy on the topic at first, but just know that I do appreciate it.

Just saying, if anybody does criticize me, please don't feel the need to hate on them for it. First of all, I kind of asked for it, and second, if I classify it as hate, then I'll be sure to handle the situation myself. Just stay friendly with each other, because we're all here to see the ideas of others, and to share ideas with them, right?

Again, sorry it took this long for just chapter 2, and here's to hoping I don't procrastina- *cough cough.* I mean, _hoping I don't get over-encumbered with projects and work,_ again.

Hope you enjoyed, and see you in less than a third of a year from now! (Hopefully…)

~Univen


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